Noelle's Sinnoh Adventures
by Noelle Atlas
Summary: Young Noelle Atlas lived with his mother for his entire life. When something arises that changes his world forever, Noelle embarks on an adventure through the Sinnoh region with his partner Ralts. He meets many new friends along the way, and of course, some enemies as well. Will Noelle complete his quest of becoming the Champion of Sinnoh, or will tragedy strike along the way?
1. Chapter 1 - A New Horizon

**Disclaimer : I do not own or claim to own any ideas created by the Pokemon Company, Nintendo, or any other creators of content in the story.**

This story is an adaptation off of the stories and events that are portrayed in the games, not the anime. Death is canon, some things are altered to fit the story, but most of it should line up with Pokemon lore / game events. This particular story takes place about 1 year after the events of Pokemon Platinum, and the protagonist in the game did what occurred in the games, so the Cyrus / Giratina events are canon as well. However, all games released up until this point are also canon. Sun and Moon Pokemon, and all Pokemon in between are present in this version of Sinnoh, and the characters from these games are fair play as well.

 **Character Roster:**

Name: Noelle Atlas

Height: 5"11'

Weight: 174 lbs.

Age: 17 years

Physical Description: Olive skin, red spiky hair, wide blue eyes, button nose, soft medium-thickness lips, fit and chiseled face, strong jawline, prominent collar bones, muscular shoulders, visible chest muscles, slightly bulging biceps, slightly veiny forearms, muscular and toned back, slight 6-pack, average size hands, prominent Adonis belt, muscular and chiseled butt, moderately fit thighs and legs, size 10 feet.

Personality:Quirky, loving, caring, silly, affectionate, passionate, emotional, determined

.

Name: Ariya Ember

Height: 5"7'

Weight: 143 lbs.

Age: 16 years

Physical Description: Dark brown skin, straight back-length black hair, clay brown eyes, button nose, soft heavy-thickness lips, soft and feminine face, double ear piercings, slightly protruding collar bones, soft and rounded shoulders, average size chest, skinny arms, soft and toned back, skinny and pierced belly, average size hands, average and rounded butt, moderately fit thighs and legs, size 7 feet.

Personality: Kind, maternal, bold, compassionate, convictional, outright, perfectionist

.

Name: Omar Ralis

Height: 6"1'

Weight: 181 lbs.

Age: 19 years

Physical Description: Tan almost brown skin, short mocha faded pomp hair, piercing green eyes, average nose, soft medium-thickness lips, fit and chiseled face, strong cheekbones, prominent collar bones, muscular shoulders, visible chest muscles, bulging biceps, veiny forearms, muscular and toned back, bold 6-pack, large size hands, prominent Adonis belt, muscular and chiseled butt, thick and fit thighs and legs, size 11 feet.

Personality: Ambitious, reserved, powerful, gentle, studied, concentrated, focused

.

Name: Valeo Ralis

Height: 6"

Weight: 178 lbs.

Age: 18 years

Physical Description: Tan almost brown skin, short mocha buzz, peering green eyes, average nose, soft medium-thickness lips, fit and chiseled face, bold chin, average collar bones, average shoulders, slightly visible chest muscles, small but apparent biceps, average forearms, average and untoned back, barely visible 6-pack, average size hands, barely visible Adonis belt, average sized and shaped butt, skinny and fit thighs and legs, size 9 feet.

Personality: Jealous, conservative, confused, closed, placid, restrained, composed

 **Chapter 1:**

 **A New Horizon**

Noelle opened his eyes to the bright light glaring in between his drawn blinds. He ran his hands through his spiky, red hair, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He heard coughing from the room down below his. He rolled over and sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his floorboards for a few seconds, before standing up and stretching. Noelle sluggishly stumbled over to his blinds and pulled them open to illuminate his room fully. He leaned against his window sill and watched as a pair of spearow played in the bird bath in the lawn below. He threw on a robe, tied it around his waist, put on a pair of munchlax slippers, and began his trek downstairs.

The smell of coffee wafted through the air, as the preset machine brewed a cup ready for whoever wants some. Noelle took out two mugs from the cabinet and closed it back slowly again. He took a container of liquid creamer out from the fridge, put a small amount in one cup, and a little in the other. He then put 1 cube in the first cup and 2 cubes in the latter. He filled both, stirred until the sugar was dissolved, picked them up and began walking to the door located adjacent to the kitchen. He opened the door slowly and peeked his head in the room.

"Good morning, honey," said his mother, her soothing voice warming him.

Noelle walked in and closed to the door behind him. "Good morning Mom," replied Noelle.

Noelle sat in the comfortable armchair that found its place next to his mother's bed. As he held her coffee out to her, she shooed the cup and he found a place in between the strewn medication bottles, both empty and full, and set it down on her nightstand. As Noelle opened his mouth to speak, he heard a thud at the door of the bedroom. He turned to connect with the noise, but the doorknob glowed a faint purple, turned itself and opened. In walked Ralts, carrying a handful of flowers from the garden out back. "Good morning Ralts," softly said mom.

Ralts rested the flowers in between his horns and used his hands to grip the sheets and climb up onto the bed. At only slightly more than a foot tall, this was no easy task. Once up next to Noelle's mother, Ralts positioned himself on her pillow a few inches away from her head and began decorating her hair with the flowers he had brought in from outside. Mom giggled for a second before saying, "Thank you Ralts, these are just beautiful."

Noelle had never seen Ralts do this before. Ralts had been helping him take care of his mother, but he never witnessed an act like this from the small pokémon. "What are you doing silly?" asked Noelle. "How are you feeling today mom?"

"The pain is gone, and I have a clear head. I wonder if this will last for me, or if it just a one-day thing. I feel back to normal."

"That's great mom. I was going to run to the store today, was there anything you wanted besides the usual?"

"Could you please pick me up some black dahlia seeds form the market, I think Ralts is running out of activities in the garden for this growing season."

Noelle nodded his head and stood up from his chair. He walked around to the other side of the bed, placed his hand in between Ralts' head, who gave a short giggle, and leaned down and kissed his mother on the forehead. He turned around and gave one last look at his mother before closing the door gently behind him.

After going back to his room and getting dressed for the day, he emerged from his room with a pair of acid washed jeans, a tri-colored hoodie, and tan boot-like shoes. He grabbed his bag that was hanging on the corner of the door, slung it over his shoulder and clipped the strap in front of his chest. With a bound down the stairs and a quick goodbye to his mother through her door, Noelle was off to the store.

Outside, he slung his leg over his bike that was leaned up against the wall next to the front door. As he closed the gate leading to their house behind him, Noelle turned to the right and began biking down the hill leading to the mart. Noelle and his mother lived in a house on the outskirts of Eterna City. Living there since birth, he had come to know almost all the people who lived in the small settlement. As he moved to his destination, he waved to the numerous neighbors that littered the road leading into the city itself.

Noelle had finally reached the mart and leaned his bike up against the side wall of the mart and made his way to the front entrance. As he walked in, he spotted a girl around his age with bright orange hair, and a small Turtwig at her feet. She had a plethora of vegetables in her arms and turned away from the counter to face the door. "Noelle! I haven't seen you in town for a while, how are you doing?" she exclaimed at the sight of him.

"Hey Gardenia. I'm doing well, I'm just picking some stuff up for mom. She said she was feeling better today so I'm hoping maybe this is the end of whatever is wrong with her."

"I sure hope so. If you ever need me and my Roselia to stop over, we can always try another round of Aromatherapy, it seemed to work all right last time." Gardenia said with a smile.

"I will let you know, if we need that, I am going to buy stuff for dinner tonight, I will probably be in town sometime next week again and let you know what's happening." Noelle responded with a slight grin.

"Sounds good bud, you and your mom are like family," she began putting some stuff on Turtwig's back that she had bought to lighten the load. "If you need anything, you know I am here to help you. See ya later!" Gardenia exclaimed as her an Turtwig exited the mart.

Noelle began browsing for things to buy for the upcoming week. He began to load the basket he had picked up at the entrance, and once he felt he had enough to last him and his mother for the next week, he walked to the checkout and paid for the items.

He situated his groceries on the back of his bike and pointed it in the direction of his house, just as he set his foot on the petal to return, he remembered his mother's request for black dahlia seeds. As he remembered, he began to turn his bike around towards the herb shop in town. He approached the shop in a similar fashion as the mart and walked in to get what he needed. Once inside, he began browsing the seed selection that was in the herb shop. He found ones tagged "black dahlia" and put 4 seeds in a little pouch provided near the selection. He went to the cashier who told him "These were my mother's favorites when I was a little girl." Noelle smiled at the coincidence and thanked her for helping him.

Once outside he slipped the seeds in the bag with the groceries and picked his bike up from the wall of the shop. As we situated himself on his bike, he heard a whirring above head. He glanced upwards and saw what could best be described as a purple ripple running through the sky itself. It seemed that the space in the sky was just quivering ever so slightly, and as Noelle stared up at the phenomenon, he heard a deafening roar and a loud crack, almost like lightning and thunder all at once, as he winced from the sound and covered his ears, everything returned to normal as quickly as it had arrived.

He looked around and people were starting to exit the buildings in town to see what the commotion was all about. As nothing could be seen or heard any longer, the curiosity slowly eroded, and people returned to business as usual. Noelle gave one last glance up at the spot he had seen the disruption and made his way back home for the day.

It was now around noon when Noelle had arrived home. The sun was directly overhead and was shining in through the skylight the house had in the kitchen. Noelle walked into the house, and it was still and silent, like usual. He turned the tv on to see if there was anything on the television about the incident he had witnessed. The first news channel he arrived to, was covering the incident, and the reporters were reporting from Eterna city's statue. As the news reporters described the event, Noelle felt extremely uneasy. He glanced toward his mother's door as he turned the volume of the tv up to hear if there was anything new about what had happened.

As the uneasiness grew a little more intense, Ralts emerged from upstairs, where his dwelling was also located. He stopped halfway down the stairs and looked towards Noelle. He looked like he was reading his emotions, carefully and thoroughly, and Noelle knew that his feelings probably drew Ralts out from a nap. Ralts came all the way down the stairs and approached the couch where Noelle was sitting. Noelle noticed that Ralts wasn't looking at him at all and was looking past him to his mother's door. Noelle reached out for Ralts and paused his hand as he examined Ralts' face.

Fear.

Just as Noelle began to stand up and ask Ralts what was wrong, Ralts overflowed the door to Noelle's mother's room with psychic energy and it swung open, slamming against the wall behind it. "Raaaalts!" Ralts yelled as he ran as fast as his foot and a half tall body would take him. Noelle stood up and followed close behind, with a sense of urgency following from the living room to the next. The coffee Noelle had placed on the nightstand was now spilled onto the floor along with 75% of the contents of his mother's nightstand.

"Mom! What's going on? Are you okay!?" Noelle yelled as he rushed to his mother's bedside.

Noelle's mother was staring up at the ceiling with her eyes bloodshot and bulging. She was unresponsive to him. "Mom! MOM!" Noelle yelled as he began to shake his mother, attempting to awaken her from whatever state she was in.

Ralts was now on the bed on the other side of Noelle's unresponsive mother. He shook her shoulder and tears fell from his eyes hidden behind his hair. "Ral...ts." He weakly said as he shook his caretaker.

Noelle had his mother by the arm and she was completely tensed up. He began to loosen his grip on his arm when he looked over at his little green-haired friend, who had both of his hands placed on her shoulder. He was humming a soft tune and his hands were glowing a rainbow color. Noelle could feel his mother's muscles relax, and her eyes slowly recede to a normal resting state. Ralts had used Heal Pulse on Noelle's mother. She began to make a groaning noise, as she turned her head to her son. She locked eyes with him and spoke softly, "Noelle… I think this might be it. I knew this morning, I just did not want to worry you if it wasn't true."

"Shhh, mom, no don't say that. Everything will be okay. You are going to be okay."

"Honey… I want you to go. Go on the adventure you always wanted to go on but couldn't because of me. I see how you watch the tv and watch the trainers who are on their pokémon journey. Nothing would make me happier than to leave knowing my baby is going to be out doing what he loves. Please…" she choked a little on her words.

"Mom, stop I am not going anywhere. You are going to be fine and I am going to stay here with you until you are better, I don't want to hear that from you, okay?" tears began to swell in Noelle's eyes. He got caught up before he could say something else with a lump in his throat and tears streaming down his face.

Mom weakly turned her head to Ralts and placed her hand to caress his cheek. "My sweet boy. I am so lucky to have had you by my side for this last year. Thank you for helping Noelle take care of me. I want you to take care of him now, okay?"

"Ralts?" he replied with a slight turn of his head. Tears were now streaming out from under Ralts' hair, and it began to get the sheets on the bed wet.

Mom turned back to Noelle and spoke very quietly, "Take him with you Noelle. He is a good boy, and he loves you very much. He can help you…" Mom now had streams of tears running down her face. "Please baby, this is your dream. Live it for me. I held you back for a long time, I do not want to hold you back anymore." Noelle felt his mother place something in his hand that she was holding. "Your father gave this to me on our wedding day. Take this with you. It has not been used. Know that with this, your father and I will be with you always." She smiled one last time and locked eyes with her son. "I love you so much Noelle. I am so proud of you. Now, go out and live your dreams, and make your mommy proud…" Noelle's mother trailed off as her eyes faded into the distance, and the life crept out of them.

Noelle put his head down on his mother's untensed arm. He could hear the faint cries on Ralts on the other side of her body over his own wails. He lifted his head and stood up. "Thank you, mom..." he said as he wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand.

H e walked outside and dug a hole with his hand in the garden where the sun was shining down directly. He dropped the black dahlia seeds in the hole, and covered it back up with dirt. He looked up at the sun, as it attempted to dry his still flowing tears. The light staring straight into his eyes from above. He looked down at the item he still had in his hand his mother had given him. In his hand was a small purple pokéball. On the very top his mother's and his father's initials were both scratched into the ball, with a small heart surrounding them. "I love you too, Mom."


	2. Chapter 2 - Shared Pain

Chapter 2:

Shared Pain

Noelle held Ralts close in his arms as they stood together, surrounded by town members, staring at the 6-foot-deep hole in the ground. Noelle was donning an all-black suit, which put a damper on his usually colorful attire choices. Noelle could feel Ralts quiver ever so slightly as they lowered the casket into the ground. He burrowed his head into Noelle's chest and looked away from the grave.

Gardenia approached Noelle and put her arm around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Noelle…" she whispered.

"It's okay, Gardenia. We all have to go someday. I just wish she didn't have to so soon," he replied solemnly.

She gave him a squeeze before walking back to where she had been standing during the service. Noelle stood in the same spot as everyone seemed to leave around him. He barely noticed the funeral slowly emptying as he stared at the lid of the box that held the only person he had truly loved in his life. He took his mother's parting present out from his pocket and rolled it in between his fingers. He ran his finger over the scratched initials of his mother and then his father's. "A.A. & D.A." the ball read. A tear dripped onto the ball and rolled slowly off onto the grass below.

Noelle squeezed the ball in his hand, while cradling Ralts with his other arm, who was now sound asleep. He returned the ball to his pocket and looked back up around him. Nobody was around, except for a single man carelessly slinging dirt on top of his mother's casket. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a single black dahlia that he had bought from in town earlier in the day. He dropped the flower directly on top of the casket before the dirt had covered it completely, turned around, and began to walk back to his house.

As he opened the door, the house was eerily quiet. He was used to the silence of his dwelling at this point, but this time it was different. There was no warmth radiating from his mother's room as it normally had. Just ice-cold silence. He knew there was nothing here for him any longer. He walked up the stairs, and entered the room across the hall from his, and set Ralts down in his small bed he had been using for years. He rustled a little bit, but then returned to a deep sleep. Noelle pet his head a couple times before returning to his own room. He took his suit off and hung it up in his closet. He changed into his usual bright attire and shook his neatly done hair back to it's normal standing. He began to pack clothes away into his bag that he would take with him into town.

Noelle did not know what he was doing. Tears began to swell in his eyes as he just threw random clothes into his bag. He could feel himself getting increasingly flustered until finally his bag just fell out of his hands, and he collapsed onto the floor crying. "I don't know what I am doing mom. I don't want to leave. I can't." Just then he felt a small hand lay on his back.

"Ralts?" Ralts spoke softly as Noelle looked at him over his shoulder. Ralts was holding the pokéball his mother had given him. Ralts was holding it out towards Noelle.

Noelle took the ball from Ralts and pressed the center button, expanding the ball into its active form. Ralts jumped up onto Noelle's lap and slapped his tiny hand against the pokéball. Upon doing this, Ralts was turned into a red light and absorbed into the ball. The ball immediately clicked and was locked shut. Noelle stared at the ball for another 30 seconds or so, before Ralts once again emerged from the ball, this time with an excited expression and smile on his face. "Ralts! Ralts, Ralts!" he exclaimed with a small giggle.

Noelle nodded his head and gave Ralts a small caress. He stood back up and finished packing his bag. Once finished, he hoisted Ralts onto his shoulder, locked the door to his house behind him, and began his bike ride down to Eterna City.

Once he had arrived in Eterna City, he opened the door to the pokémon gym and saw Gardenia tending to flowers with her Turtwig. "Hey, Noelle!" she yelled from across the gym.

"Gardenia, I have a favor to ask."

"After today, I'm not sure there is much you could ask of me that I couldn't do for you."

"I would like you to look after my house for me while I am gone. My mother… she wanted me to go on my very own adventure after she was gone, and I think I am going to do that. I know she would want me to, and it would make her very proud to know that I was out doing it."

"Noelle… I would love to do that for you. If you are going on your own adventure, I expect you back here to challenge me for my gym badge soon! Take these with you if you are going out now. You will need them."

Gardenia passed over a handful of different berries and pokéballs into Noelle's hands. He looked up at her and gave her a nod of approval before turning around and running towards the entrance. "Raaaaaalts!" Ralts shouted over Noelle's shoulder while waving farewell to Gardenia.

Noelle situated himself on his bike. "Okay… so we should head to Jubilife City first. They have a lot of stores there that I could use to stock up for the adventures ahead. How's that sounds buddy?" Noelle asked with a smile.

"Ralts!" Ralts replied with a huge smile across his face.

Noelle exited the city through the west exit and came across some trees that slowly got thicker leading into Eterna Forest. He had played in Eterna Forest as a kid, so he knew his way around and through it. Him and Gardenia used to play in front of the Old Chateau, but he could never get Gardenia to come inside with him, although she swore it was not because of fear. He walked up to the front gate of the Old Chateau and peered in through the windows. He could see no movement and no light inside the building. He figured if he did not have Gardenia with him to keep him from going inside, why not?

He slowly opened the creaky door into the Old Chateau and heard some resident pokémon rustle away from him with fear. He looked around at the old furnishings in the mansion, and they were stunningly beautiful. As he began to walk towards a staircase he saw in front of him, he heard a loud 'BANG' from behind him near the door.

"AHHHHH!" he screamed as he hid behind the staircase. He peered through the bars on the guard rail to notice that a painting had fallen from the wall, most likely from him opening the door. "Phew, I thought I was a goner there for a second," he said. Ralts rolled his eyes behind his hair and giggled.

Noelle began up the stairs and entered the room whose door lay at the peak. As he opened the door, it creaked ever so slightly, making the creaking run throughout the entire quiet mansion. He saw a broken-down bed and glass on the ground from the broken window in the room. He stopped moving and heard an ever so slight whimper from the corner of the room where the bed was located. He moved towards the bed and got down on his knee to look at where the noise was coming from. As his eyes matched ground level, he saw a small phantump quivering under the broken bed, with a look of pure terror in his eyes. "Hey… I'm not going to hurt you buddy. You can come out." Noelle spoke softly to the Phantump.

The small stump did not move from his spot. Suddenly, Ralts jumped from Noelle's shoulder and slowly crawled under the bed towards the Phantump. He winced with fear, but stayed put, much to Noelle's surprise. Noelle could hear little voices coming from under the bed. Eventually, Ralts emerged, holding one of Phantump's ghostly hands and leading him out to Noelle. "Hey buddy, where is your mommy?" Noelle said to the small baby. Phantump looked at Noelle and pointed to the other corner of the room with small tears swelling in his eyes.

Noelle looked to where the small stump was pointing, and in the corner of the room was a log that was propped up against the corner of the room, quite obviously devoid of any consciousness. Noelle examined the scene with his eyes for a minute or so, before looking back at the young child. "You lost your mommy?" he asked. The small ghost shook his head yes. "Hey, listen, I lost my mommy too just a little while ago. I know what it feels like, I know how scared you are."

Upon hearing this, tears began to overflow in Phantump's eyes, and he leaped into Noelle's arms and began crying into his sweatshirt. "Hey… do you have a daddy here somewhere?" Phantump shook his head no to Noelle. "How about you come with Ralts and me, and I will be your daddy from here on out?"

The Phantump glanced over at his mother's remains, then back at Noelle. Noelle pulled another black dahlia out of the same pocket he produced one from earlier. "Here, why don't you go give this to her."

Phantump hesitantly grabbed the flower out of Noelle's palm and floated over by where his mother's remains lay. He placed the flower in one of the openings of the log and hugged a part he could fit his small arms around. He floated back over to Noelle and grabbed one of his hands with his own ghostly one. With this, Noelle took his leave from the mansion with Ralts on his shoulder and his new friend in hand.

Once back out in the forest, Noelle sat down on the ground and looked to Phantump. "Phantump, you can travel outside with me as much as you want, but I also need you to have a home away from home. If you could go in this pokéball, it will be yours from here on out, and you can choose to be outside with me, or if you need a break, you can go into your ball. How does that sound?" Phantump looked at Noelle with concern for a second, but eventually nodded his head yes. "Great! We are going to have a great time together!" Noelle said as he tapped the regular red pokéball on Phantump's head. Phantump disappeared into the ball in a bright red light as Noelle heard it click shut. Phantump remerged and grabbed Noelle's hand once again. He tucked Phantump's empty ball into his bag and the trio continued their journey towards Jubilife City.


	3. Chapter 3 - New Bonds

Chapter 3:

New Bonds

Noelle, Ralts, and Phantump continued through Eterna Forest until they emerged through the other side. There was a long strip of rocky terrain, running parallel to a strip of water. At the end of the rocky road, Noelle could see a town with bright flowers blooming all around. He began to walk with his two friends close-by. Ralts jumped off Noelle's shoulder, slid down his arm, and began to run ahead of him. Noelle smiled as he watched his little companion become comfortable with the new surroundings.

As Noelle walked a few steps behind the running little pokémon, he spotted two people battling up ahead. Ralts ran up near the battle to get a closer look at the action, and Noelle joined him a few feet away from the battlefield. On one side was a teenage girl who had flowing black hair, brown skin, beautiful brown eyes, and a small horsea standing at attention in front of her. On the other side was a slightly older boy with blond hair, blue eyes, and a charmander in front of him. The battle had not even delivered its first attack yet when Noelle walked up, so he situated himself a distance away, sat down against a nearby rock, put Phantump in his lap and watched on.

As the battle begin, the girl started out with a Bubble attack from her horsea. The boy had his charmander dodge the attack and counter with a Smokescreen. Horsea's vision became clouded as he tried to shake the smoke away from around him. "Horsea! Use Twister!" the girl shouted.

A few small twisters formed around Horsea and dispersed the smoke. However, as the smoke cleared, Charmander was right up close with his hand drawn back to attack. "Charmander! Use Dragon Claw!"

Charmander's claws glowed purple and they ripped down Horsea's front half. Horsea was launched backwards from the attack. "Horsea get up!" the girl yelled.

As Horsea struggled to return the fight, Charmander closed in once again. "Charmander, finish him with Brick Break!" Charmander swung down hard on Horsea, knocking him out of the battle. "Looks like I win. You couldn't even scratch my Charmander."

The girl ran to her Horsea but was stopped in her tracks by the young man. "Somebody as weak as you should not even try to be a pokémon trainer. I think I am going to relieve you of your Horsea since it won't ever meet its true potential following you around," the boy said to her.

With this, Noelle stood up and began to approach the pair. "Wh… what? You can't just take my pokémon, it was just a battle," she replied, taken aback.

"And what are you going to do to stop me exactly with no pokémon? Nothing! All you can do is watch!" he shouted in her face.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Noelle yelled as he was now close enough to the two trainers. "Leave her alone and walk away. You can't just take somebody's pokémon if you beat them in a battle!"

"Oh yeah? And who are you to tell me otherwise? I see you have no strong pokémon with you to defend her, so what are you going to do?"

Ralts was upset by the claim he was weak and jumped in between Noelle and the boy. "Ralts!" he yelled.

"Fine, I challenge you to a battle. If you win you get the Horsea, if I win, I'm going to take that Ralts and train it to be a strong fighting pokémon."

"Please, you don't have to risk your pokémon for me, I will figure out a way to get out of this," the girl responded to Noelle.

Noelle looked at Ralts. He was looking at Noelle and Noelle could feel the burning desire from Ralts to fight this battle. "I accept your challenge," said Noelle after a moment of internal debate.

Phantump left Noelle's side and floated over to the girl. He grabbed her hand and held it as the two watched the battle that was about to begin.

This was Noelle's first-ever pokémon battle. His heart was pounding out of his chest, and he could feel Ralts' determination to fight this battle. He took a deep breath and let all his nerves run out of his body. This was it. The decisive moment. Was he going to be a successful trainer, or was he going to lose his first ever pokémon battle? It was time to… "Charmander use Dragon Claw!" the boy shouted out ruining Noelle's concentration.

Charmander rushed at Ralts, and all on his own, Ralts dodge the attack. He looked back at Noelle to make sure he was in it to win it, with a confident "Ralts!"

"Great dodge Ralts, turn around and face him and use Confusion!" Noelle shouted.

Ralts did as instructed by Noelle, and as Charmander recovered from his missed attack, he turned back towards his opponent only to be met with a blast of psychic energy.

"No!" shouted the boy. "Charmander, stand up and use Smokescreen!"

Charmander flooded the field with smoke. Ralts began to panic and look around furiously to locate his opponent. The small pokémon could not see anything since the smoke was at least twice his height. "Charmander, use Brick Break!" the boy shouted. As Charmander sailed through the air towards Ralts, Noelle instinctively yelled out "Ralts, Teleport behind him!"

As Charmander struck with his outstretched hand, the attack had blasted the smoke away. Ralts was now standing directly behind Charmander, who took a second to dislodge his hand from the dirt. "Ralts!" Noelle shouted confidently. "Use Confusion!"

Ralts blasted Charmander with another blast of psychic energy just as he managed to dislodge his hand. Charmander skidded across the ground, and eventually came to a halt. Charmander attempted to stand up when he collapsed once again onto the ground.

Noelle did it. He won.

Ralts ran to Noelle and jumped up as far as he could. Noelle met him halfway and lifted him into his arms and hugged him close. "You were so good Ralts. I knew you could do it!" "Ralts, Ralts, Raaaalts!" he proclaimed.

The boy picked up his Charmander and returned him to his pokéball. "Fine, take the Horsea. I don't think I could train a weak little pokémon into anything strong anyways!" the boy proclaimed as he turned and left towards the floral city down below.

Noelle picked up the Horsea and walked it over to the girl. The girl took Horsea from Noelle as he took Phantump's hand from her. "Thank you so much… you risked your own pokémon just to save mine. I really don't know what I would've done if something happened to him."

"It's okay, no need to thank me, you needed help and I helped you. It was just what should be done," he responded.

"Are you going to Floaroma Town? I live there, I can guide you there with the quickest route," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, actually I am. That would be awesome, thank you!" Noelle responded.

The two set off down the path once again. The girl had returned her Horsea to his pokéball and had taken Phantump by the hand. The sun was beginning to set as they walked into the town. Phantump and Ralts ran ahead towards the pokémon center in the small town covered in flowers. "You know, I think Phantump really likes you," Noelle said to the girl.

"He is just the sweetest little thing. You know, you fought a battle to save my pokémon and I don't even know your name yet," the girl said to Noelle as they walked towards the pokémon center together.

"I'm Noelle Atlas from Eterna City."

"Nice to meet you Noelle, I'm Ariya Ember from Floaroma Town. Welcome to my hometown."

The two met up with Ralts and Phantump at the door of the pokémon center. Once inside, Ariya gave her Horsea over to the Nurse Joy behind the counter and asked if she could please heal him back to health.

As the two left the pokémon center with Ralts, Phantump, and now Horsea all accompanying them, it was completely dark out. "Oh man," Noelle said, "I was hoping to get to Jubilife tonight. Looks like that isn't happening."

"If you need someplace to stay tonight, you could stay in my brother's room for the night. He is out on his own adventure and hasn't been home in months," Ariya told Noelle.

"Thank you Ariya, I think I will take you up on that," Noelle responded to the offer.

Ariya led Noelle to her house, where they were both greeted by Ariya's mother. "Welcome home honey! Oh, and I see you brought home a new friend."

"Mom, this is Noelle, Noelle, this is my mom. She used to be a Gym Leader y'know," Ariya said with a triumphant grin on her face. "She used to run the Gym in Humilau City over in Unova before Marlon took it over."

"Ariya, was this really the best time you could've told him that? Sit down, I made dinner, and there is more than enough for your friend." Ariya's mom chuckled. "Oh, and don't worry, I have plenty of pokémon food for you guys too!"

Noelle, Ariya, and Ariya's mom spent the next hour or so chatting, laughing, and enjoying the food Ariya's mom had prepared. The pokémon sat on the floor next to the table and played around while eating their pokémon food. Eventually, Ariya's mom cleared the table and sat down in the living room with a book. Ariya showed Noelle to where he would be sleeping and situated some beds on the ground from other rooms for Phantump and Ralts to sleep on.

Noelle took off his shirt, his pants, and his socks and crawled into bed in his briefs. He had just finished getting comfortable when he felt something hard pushing up on his arm. He lifted his arm up and Phantump crawled underneath it and situated himself comfortable before quickly falling asleep. Noelle smiled as he lay listening to the soft snores of his two companions. A sliver of light came from the slightly ajar door, and Noelle could hear the faint voices of Ariya and her mother. "…I want to ask him, but I feel like it would be a burden he would be too nice to say no to," he heard Ariya say.

"The worst that can happen is that he says no. I think it might be good for both of you," Ariya's mother replied to her.

Noelle could not make much more out from the voices and dozed off cuddling Phantump.

Noelle awakened to the smell of breakfast. He looked around his room and Phantump and Ralts were nowhere to be found. He stood up and pulled a fresh set of clothes out of his bag, that had the same bright colors as usual. He noticed the clothes he had left on the ground were now gone. He took off his briefs and put a fresh pair on and then finished getting dressed. He shook his head vigorously and his hair returned to its normal position. He made for the door, and slowly opened it.

He walked out into the kitchen where there were three plates of food ready to be eaten. Ariya's mom was just pouring a glass of orange juice for all three plates. As Noelle said good morning and seated himself at the table, Ariya emerged from the hallway with her hair up in a towel and dressed for that day. "Good morning Noelle," Ariya said to him and she manually dried her hair in the confines of the towel. As she removed the towel, her hair was exposed with it's natural curl and was very voluminous. "Yes, it was straightened yesterday," she said to Noelle with a laugh as she saw the expression on his face.

She sat down at the table as her mother also took the third seat and they all began eating breakfast.

"The boys are all outside playing in the flower fields, since I'm sure you were wondering," Ariya's mom said, "I told them to be back in a half an hour, so we will see if that works out," she said with a small chuckle.

Noelle, Ariya, and her mother finished breakfast. As Ariya's mom was clearing the table, Noelle made for the door. He walked outside and could see his partners playing in the flower fields with Horsea. He smiled as he watched Phantump, the once frightened orphan, bonding and having a good time. He was also glad that Ralts was able to enjoy himself after his mother had passed. He looked up at the sun and smiled as he felt his mother's warm embrace every time the sun shined so brightly. He hoped he was making her proud.

Ariya walked out of the house, with her hair back to its straightened black sheen, and joined Noelle on the bench he had chosen to sit at. "Hey Noelle… I know it is sudden, and I don't want you to feel like you have to say yes," she began to say, "but I was wondering if Horsea and I could come with you on your adventure."

As Noelle opened his mouth to respond she cut him off. "Look, I'm not really that strong yet, and I know I only have one pokémon, but I think if I went with you on your journey I could- "

"Ariya." Noelle stopped her. "I would love for you to come with me. My partners seem to like you. Besides, you were so thoughtful and offered me a place to stay and helped me find my way here. It's the least I could do is let you tag along."

"Thank you so much Noelle! I am going to go pack my bag because I know you probably want to leave as soon as possible!" she exclaimed as she jumped up and ran inside.

Noelle watched through the window as Ariya ran to her mom and told her the news. They hugged, and both jumped up and down, Ariya's mom's afro bouncing with each jump. He turned back to his partners who had spotted him and were running at him full speed. They leaped onto his lap and both exclaimed with joy as he laughed at their enthusiasm.

Ariya and her mother emerged from the house a little while later and Ariya had a bag slung over her shoulder that looked full of anything she would need. Ariya's mom had Noelle's bag. "Here hun, I washed the clothes you had on the floor and put them in there for you too," she said as she handed him the bag. "You two have a great journey, and I hope you will have lots of fun. Take care of each other! I know you will both do great things!" Ariya gave her mother a hug and a kiss goodbye and then her mother grabbed Noelle and gave him a big hug as well. He returned the embrace and realized how much he had missed the embrace of a mother since his had left.

T he two of them turned away from the house, Ralts on Noelle's shoulder, Phantump floating and holding Noelle's hand, and Horsea happily bounding along beside Ariya. Ariya's mother waved as the two of them departed. They began the trek to Noelle's first destination – Jubilife City.


	4. Chapter 4 - Brothers

Chapter 4:

Brothers

Noelle, Ariya, and their pokémon partners continued to exit Floaroma Town through the South exit. Upon leaving, they were confronted with another long path. "Just at the end of this path is where we will get to Jubilife City," Ariya told Noelle.

They continued southward, and eventually ran into a sheer cliff dead-end. "Look, Noelle, there is an entrance to a cave right over there! It might lead down to the bottom of this cliff," Ariya said, pointing to the cave entrance. Noelle nodded his head and they made their way over to the cave entrance.

Once inside the cave, they both realized it was abnormally freezing inside. The walked through a few steps and had Ralts move some rocks that were blocking their path with his psychic powers. Past the rocks they looked to the right and saw that the water that was in the cave was completely frozen solid. "I wonder why it is so cold in here," Noelle asked as they approached the frozen water.

Ariya looked further into the cave to see some commotion up ahead. She motioned for Noelle to follow her, and in the furthest reach of the cave, were some snorunt dancing around in a circle in the middle of the furthest section of water. Noelle handed Ariya a pokéball and said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She smiled at him and looked at Horsea, "Let's go Horsea."

Ariya and Noelle leaped out from behind the rock wall. The snorunt became startled and 1 of the 3 ran away immediately. "Ralts use Confusion!" "Horsea use Bubble!" they both commanded their partners.

Both attacks connected with the snorunt, but they both retaliated simultaneously with Ice Beams. "Dodge!" they both yelled.

Both pokémon dodged the Ice Beams that were hurdled their way. "Ralts use Teleport and teleport behind them!" "Horsea, use Twister on them both!"

Ralts ended up behind the snorunt, as Twisters approached them from the front. One snorunt turned around to face Ralts, and the other dodged the Twister from the front. The one that turned around neglected to notice the Twister and was thrown against a rock wall near Ralts. "Ralts use Confusion!" Noelle shouted.

Ralts hit the snorunt with a blast of energy and the snorunt struggled to get up. The other snorunt charged Horsea at full speed. His head was pointed down towards Horsea as he charged with a Headbutt. "Horsea use Bubble!" Ariya yelled to her partner. The Bubble connected and the snorunt was flipped over onto his back. "Ariya, now!" Noelle yelled from across the cavern where he had gone to join Ralts.

Both Ariya and Noelle threw pokéballs at their respective snorunt. Both balls shook as the snorunt inside fought against being captured. Suddenly, Noelle's ball clicked shut as he captured snorunt. Ariya stared patiently at her pokéball waiting for it to stop shaking. Suddenly, the ball opened and the snorunt was returned onto the field. He looked at Ariya scared and ran away screaming "Snooow!"

Ariya fell on her butt after the defeat from the wild pokémon. Noelle approached her and helped her to her feet. "Hey, you can have the one I caught. I already have two pokémon," Noelle comforted her.

"Noelle, that is yours. You caught it fairly. I will never get ahead if you do all my hard work for me and make-up for me when I fail. I will catch a pokémon, and I will do it on my own. You can look forward to it!" she said to Noelle with a smile.

The ice under feet began to crack without the snorunt keeping the cavern cold. The two of them slid back to the entrance while laughing and trying to keep their balance the entire time. Back near where they entered the cave, was a staircase leading down to another entrance to the cave. They descended the flight of stairs and approached the exit. Once outside, they looked up and saw where they were earlier before entering the cave. "Straight ahead is Jubilife City. This path should be simple I would think," Ariya said to Noelle.

The two began walking towards the city they could see hovering in the distance. As they neared the entrance to the city, they heard an intense argument near a small pond to the left. Noelle, being nosy, peered through the bushes towards the pond to see what the commotion was about. In the water below was a younger boy, probably in his late teens, wearing only swim shorts. He was extremely muscular and looked like he put a lot of effort into his appearance. His skin was very tanned, and on his head was mocha colored hair that had a very modern style. The other person in the commotion was a boy who looked very similar to the boy in the water but looked a couple of years younger. He was standing on the shore fully clothed. Noelle could make out that he was not as muscular as the other one, and his hair was cut short instead of styled.

"I do not understand why you always have to be like this! shouted the boy from the shore. "All I wanted was for you to actually put some time into practicing with me, but you won't even do that."

"Calm down. You are so dramatic. If you would just give me some time to do it when I want, then we could practice when I have time."

"What are you talking about? You are lounging around in this pond, you aren't even doing anything important right now! God, you are so annoying!"

Noelle had been squatting behind the bushes watching through a small opening. As he was trying to readjust, his body weight shifted, and he fell backwards, grasping at the bushes on the way down and making a loud rustling noise.

The boy in the water looked towards the sound and told the other boy, "Well, if that was a trainer I just heard, we can get some training in right now."

As Noelle scrambled to get up and correct himself, the two boys turned the corner, one still barely clothed. "Well, well, well. Look who we have here."

Ariya ran up to Noelle and the boys. "We were just on our way, we're sorry!"

"We challenge you two to a double battle! My little brother here wants some training with me, and you two are the perfect pair for this," said the shirtless boy. "Valeo. Get ready, we are going to win this battle."

Noelle looked at Ariya and whispered, "I mean, do we really have a choice. All our pokémon are healthy, we may as well just give it a shot. It might be fun!"

Ariya nodded as they both situated themselves for a battle. "Snorunt, go!" Noelle shouted as he threw his pokéball containing Snorunt onto the field. Snorunt emerged with a confident, "Runt!"

Ariya pointed for Horsea to move onto the battlefield next to Snorunt. "Growlithe, your turn!" said the older brother. "Jangmo-o, let's do this," said Valeo. Both the boys threw their pokéballs out onto the field and the respective pokémon emerged.

"Alright, we each have one pokémon, first team to have both pokémon knocked out, loses!" the older brother shouted across the battlefield. "Growlithe, use Ember on Snorunt!"

Growlithe spewed small flames towards Snorunt. Snorunt tried to move out of the way, but before anything could happen Ariya yelled out "Horsea, use Bubble on the embers!"

Horsea put the embers out with a single Bubble attack. "Now Horsea, use Bubble on Growlithe!" yelled Ariya. "Snorunt, use Ice Beam on Jangmo-o!" Noelle continued.

Both pokémon used their respective moves, and the older brother commanded his Growlithe to dodge the attack. "Valeo, tell your Jangmo-o to dodge!" he yelled to his younger brother.

"I… uh… Jangmo-o move out of the way!" he finally yelled. His hesitation made it a second too late ang Jangmo-o was hit with the ice.

"You have to pay attention. That is rule number one when it comes to battling. I can't hold your hand for you!" the older brother yelled.

Valeo, obviously flustered, called out for his Jangmo-o to use Headbutt on Snorunt. As Jangmo-o rushed Snorunt, he hit Growlithe with his arm which threw both off and knocked them both to the ground. "Seriously dude? Do you know how to do anything without me telling you how to do it?"

Tears welled up in Valeo's eyes, as he unexpectedly took out his pokéball and withdrew Jangmo-o. He turned around and ran towards Jubilife City. "Well, I guess that is that then," said the older brother as he approached Noelle and Ariya.

"That was so uncalled for!" yelled Ariya as he walked closer. "Why are you so mean to your brother?"

"He can't battle without me holding his hand the entire way! He needs to learn for himself how to battle, I can't just do it all for him. I'm Omar, by the way." He reached his hand out to shake Noelle's.

Noelle glanced up at him, who was still barely clothed, and was a bit embarrassed. "Is your friend always this shy?" Omar said to Ariya nodding towards Noelle.

"No, no. Sorry. I'm Noelle. This is Ariya. We just started our journey out together."

"For just starting a journey, you two battled together excellently. Sorry, let me go put my clothes on, I can walk you two into Jubilife if that's where you're headed." Omar walked back towards the water he had emerged out of.

Ariya looked at Noelle who had a little blush. She nudged him with her elbow and pushed him forward while laughing. They met up with Omar, who was now fully dressed close to the entrance of Jubilife. "Hey, I'm not always like that. My brother, he just really gets on my nerves, and I have been dealing with this for a long time. I promise I can be a nice guy."

"Yeah, sure," said Ariya. "Can we head to a pokémon center please?"

"Yeah of course, let me show you the way."

Noelle, Ariya, and Omar entered Jubilife City with a few pokémon who were out of their pokéballs. Jubilife City was a huge bustling center. There were people everywhere, there were tall buildings, and so many stores and shops for them to go to. "Over this way is the pokémon center," Omar said as he motioned them towards the southeastern part of the city. "My brother and I have lived here our whole lives," he continued, "anything you guys need, I can show you where to find it. As for now, lets all rest up our pokémon."

As the three of them approached the pokémon center, Valeo exited the building. "Valeo…" Omar started.

Valeo just turned and ran away as fast as he could. Omar stood with his arm outstretched but just looked down at the ground after Valeo ran away. Ariya walked up and put her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should apologize to him before anything," she said to him.

"I will see him later at home," he responded. "Let's just heal up our friends first."

They all entered the pokémon center and had Nurse Joy take their pokémon. They sat together at the café that was in the pokémon center and ordered some drinks. Ralts came bursting out from behind the counter and ran to Noelle, climbing his clothes up onto his shoulder. Nurse Joy was close behind with a tray with all the pokéballs in it that they had given her. "Thanks Nurse Joy," Omar said as he took his pokéball.

The trio exited the pokémon center with their healed pokémon in hand. "Hey, would you guys mind coming with me back to our apartment? I could use the backup for apologizing to Valeo," Omar said to Noelle and Ariya.

"We can do that for you. It's the least we can do for you helping us find the pokémon center earlier," Ariya replied.

They began walking towards a tall apartment complex building located in the center of the city. After navigating through winding halls and a couple of staircases, Omar stopped at a door. He took a deep breath and unlocked the door and turned the handle to open it. Inside, all the lights were on. "Valeo!" Omar shouted. "I'm back, can I talk to you!"

There was no response.

Omar let the other two inside and Noelle closed the door behind him. Omar made his way towards Valeo's bedroom. "Hey Val…" he said as he approached.

He stopped and investigated the room without saying another word. "What's wrong Omar?" asked Noelle.

Omar was standing in his room next to his bed with a piece of paper in his hand. He looked over to Noelle. "He's gone."


	5. Chapter 5 - Time For an Adventure!

Chapter 5:

Time for An Adventure

"What do you mean he's gone?" asked Noelle.

"He left a note on his bed saying he is going out on his own adventure to get stronger since I will not help him and all I do is yell at him," replied Omar with a shaky voice.

"Hey… don't worry. I'm sure he is just blowing off steam. Maybe wait until tomorrow morning, and see if he comes back," Ariya said as she sat down on the bed next to Omar. "We can stay here with you if you would like until the morning, just so you have somebody."

"I would really like that. If you guys want to get your shopping done tonight, I can go with you. I can lead you to all the stores you need to buy stuff at," Omar replied.

Omar tried to shake off the events that transpired in his apartment and went out with Noelle and Ariya to buy whatever they would need for their adventures. They purchased materials for sleeping out on the routes overnight if they need to, they bought food that won't expire if they are out for a couple of days at a time, and they bought some potions, and other manmade medicines for their pokémon in case they cannot get to a pokémon center.

They exited the final store they planned to go to and it was now dark outside. They returned to Omar's apartment, and organized through all the stuff they bought, packing it away in the bags they had began their journey with. "You guys can sleep in the extra room if you want, it has two beds even," Omar told them.

"Thank you, Omar, we will take you up on that," Noelle responded.

Each of them settled into their rooms. Omar stared up at his dark ceiling with worry for his brother. "Why did he push him away? Why couldn't he just be a good brother for once?" he thought.

Ariya settled into bed after putting her hair back in a tight ponytail. Noelle was sitting on the edge of the bed watching her as she started playing around with Horsea who was sitting on her chest.

He laid down and pulled the covers up to his chin. He began taking off his clothes from under the blankets. Ariya looked over at him and saw him struggling to get his pants off under the covers. "Hey," she said startling him a little, "it's not that big of a deal, I can just turn around if you need me to."

He glanced over at her and gave an embarrassed smile. "Besides," she continued, "its not like I'm Omar," she finished with a full laugh.

"Shut up!" Noelle said with a laugh. "I just have never been confronted like that by an almost naked person before!"

They both laughed together loudly. As they calmed down, Ariya told Noelle goodnight and rolled over to go to sleep. Noelle stared up at his ceiling. "That was the reason I was so flustered… right?" he thought to himself. He felt Phantump slowly float his way up the side of the bed and position himself under one of Noelle's arms. "Goodnight buddy," he whispered.

Noelle awoke early in the morning when the sun was just coming up to Ariya snoring quite loudly. He giggled and got up out of bed. He grabbed his bag and snuck into the bathroom down the hall to take a shower since he felt he probably smelled badly. Once out of the shower, he dried himself off with a towel he had bought the day before. He dried off completely and got dressed before exiting the bathroom.

Ariya was now awake and was straightening her hair when Noelle walked into the bedroom. "Oh hey! You look nice and clean," she said to him after turning away from the mirror.

He packed his clothes from yesterday into his bag and walked out into the kitchen. There was nobody else around. He walked towards Valeo's room to see if he had come home in the night. It did not appear that he had. He continued down to Omar's room to check to make sure he was still home and hadn't left for some reason.

He looked through the already ajar door and saw Omar lying down with only his underwear on. "At least I'm not the only boy who sleeps like that," Noelle thought to himself.

Just then, Omar quickly got out of bed and began walking towards his door. Noelle panicked a little and tried to move away from the door as quickly and quietly as possible. "Oh God, what if he thinks I was spying on him," Noelle thought as he quickly moved down the hall.

"Good morning Noelle."

He slowly turned around and responded, "Good morning Omar. How did you sleep."

"Not well. I was lying awake waiting for Valeo to come home and he never did." He glanced down at his own midriff. "Jeez, I'm always running into you like this. Let me get changed quick."

Noelle returned to the living room and sat on the couch. Ariya was the first one to join him and she had already applied all her makeup and finished straightening her hair. A minute after Ariya emerged, Omar emerged, fully dressed this time. He joined them in an armchair in the living room. "Hey Omar, I'm sorry Valeo didn't come back last night. I'm sure you are worried sick," Ariya said to him.

"Yeah… I am. But worrying will get me nowhere. So, I'm sure you guys are ready to head out on your adventure officially then."

"Yeah we should best be on our way. Noelle still has all 8 gym badges to collect. We should head to Oreburgh City to battle Roark. That's the closest gym leader to this city."

Noelle nodded to this suggestion and looked to Omar, who had a concerned look on his face. "Yeah, you guys should get going, you're going to want to use as much daylight as possible."

"Thank you for letting us stay here last night Omar," Noelle said to him. "If there's anything we can do to repay you, let us know, okay."

Omar looked up at Noelle and stared into his eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time. Ariya looked at Noelle, then back at Omar.

"I want to come with you guys," he finally proclaimed. "I want to come with and look for my brother. I am worried sick about him but worrying will do me nothing if I just stay here and wait. Please… can I come with you guys?"

Noelle and Ariya exchanged looks between the two of them.

"Yes," they both said simultaneously.

Omar's face changed from worry to joy as he was accepted into the group. He thanked them and ran to his room to pack the things he would need for an adventure. Once ready, he joined them back in the living room. "Hey Noelle," he started, "if you want to leave your bike here you can. You are the only one that has one and you've just been walking along side it since I met you."

Noelle agreed and left his bike in the apartment. Omar left a note for his brother in case he returned while he was not there, and the three were off to begin their adventure together.

They exited Jubilife City early in the morning through the eastern exit. They arrived at a grassy route that led to a small mountain up ahead. They continued forward towards the mountain. After ascending the stairs, they were now standing on barren, rocky terrain. Ariya took a step forward and felt something under her foot. She heard a "SsssSSss!" and jumped backwards.

Her foot had managed to land on a perched salandit. The salandit recoiled and used a poison spray on Ariya. Horsea broke the spray up with Twister and stood in between Ariya and Salandit. Noelle and Omar took a step back and grinned at each other about to watch the battle ensue. "This one is not getting away from me!" Ariya yelled. "Horsea, use Bubble!"

Horsea bombarded Salandit with bubbles and it jumped back from the hit. Salandit retaliated with a Sludge Bomb on Horsea.

Horsea got hit with the sludge and tried to shake it off. As Horsea was shaking off the poison spray, Salandit clamped its jaw down on Horsea's tail. Horsea wailed and shook its tail to knock Salandit off, to no avail. Horsea looked right at Salandit, furious, and blasted him with a strong stream of water. "Awesome!" Ariya shouted. "Horsea, Water Gun one more time, let's go!"

Horsea unleased a spray of water at Salandit. This knocked Salandit onto its back as Ariya threw a pokéball at the immobilized creature. She hit Salandit with the ball, and she nervously watched it shake. Eventually, the ball clicked shut and Ariya jumped up and down with joy as she caught her first pokémon since leaving on her journey. "Great job Ariya!" Noelle proclaimed from behind her.

S he thanked him for his praise and they continued their route. The mountain had a cave entrance, much like the last route they were on. They entered the cave, and there were no abnormalities unlike the last one. They continued straight through and emerged at the entrance to Oreburgh City.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Challenger

Chapter 6:

The Challenger

As the trio approached the center of the city, they looked around for a pokémon center. After spotting one, they headed over towards it to heal up their pokémon. Once inside, Omar looked to Noelle. "So, you going to challenge the Oreburgh Gym today?"

"Well, I might as well. We have a lot of daylight yet, and I think that my pokémon could handle the challenge."

"What about your Phantump? Do you plan on ever using him in a battle?"

"Well… I'm not sure honestly. He is still a little baby and I am not sure he really even knows any moves."

"You could train him before you challenge the gym. If he could learn a grass type move, it would certainly help you out in the gym."

Noelle nodded and looked at his little companion who was floating around checking out the pokémon center. He thought that Phantump probably would be able to battle eventually, but he wasn't sure this was the time for him to do so. "Yeah, I think I will see what he can do before I throw him into any battles."

After the team had finished healing up their pokémon at the center, they left and attempted to locate the pokémon gym. "I think we walked past it when we entered the city," Ariya told the boys.

They backtracked back to the pokémon gym that was located near the entrance of the city they had used. Noelle approached the door and took a deep breath before walking through the automatic doors. Noelle looked upwards and could see a young man with a helmet on standing up on top of multiple flights of stairs. Littered throughout the gym were young trainers practicing with their rock-type pokémon.

Noelle began up the stairs, and approached the young man standing at the peak. "Hello trainer," he called out as he saw Noelle approach. "My name is Roark, the gym leader at the Oreburgh City Gym. Are you here to challenge me for the Coal Badge? Or are you just here for some training and information about our mining operations?"

"My name is Noelle Atlas from Eterna City, and I have come here to challenge you to a pokémon battle. This is the first gym I am challenging since leaving on my adventure."

Ariya and Omar giggled a little at the formality they weren't used to seeing from Noelle.

"Very well, I accept your challenge. If you would follow me I have a battlefield in the back of the gym we can use."

Noelle, Ariya, Omar, and the pokémon who were out of their pokéballs followed Roark down a flight of stairs at the back of the gym. Once they arrived, Roark pointed at a spot for Noelle to stand at, a spot for Omar and Ariya to watch from, and proceeded to his own spot at the other side of the field. "Alright Noelle, we will have a 3-on-3 battle. Once one person no longer has any of his 3 pokémon left to battle, the other person will be the winner of the battle."

Noelle looked down at Phantump. He was only planning to use Snorunt and Ralts. "Maybe if I just use all my power and knock out two pokémon with one of mine, Phantump will be able to sit this one out anyways," he thought. "Alright Roark!" Noelle called out, "Let's get this battle started!"

Roark let loose a pokéball on the battlefield and out came a geodude. "Geo!" he cried as he prepared for his opponent to emerge.

"Alright," Noelle thought, "If I use Snorunt, he will have a type disadvantages against Roark's rock type pokémon. Ralts will have no advantages or disadvantages against Roark's pokémon." "I'll use Ralts as my first pokémon then!" yelled Noelle.

Ralts ran to the field from Noelle's side, ready to attack when given the command. "Let the battle begin!" yelled Roark. "Geodude, use Stealth Rock!"

Sharp, pointed stones showered down all around Ralts' feet. "Ralts, avoid those stones, and get close to Geodude!" Noelle responded.

Ralts teleported away from the sharp stones and next to Geodude at the other side of the field. "Now Ralts, use Confusion!"

As Ralts aimed his psychic energy at Geodude, Geodude picked up a stone from the ground. "Geodude counter with Rock Throw!" Roark called out.

Geodude hurled the rock he was holding at Ralts, and Ralts' Confusion attack connected with the rock in midair. It vibrated and shattered, sprinkling small pebbles all around the pokémon's feet. "Geodude, Rock Throw again!" Roark shouted.

As Geodude readied a rock to toss at Ralts, Noelle called out from across the field, "Ralts! Use Disarming Voice!"

Ralts let out a very loud cry in the direction of Geodude. He dropped the rock he was about to throw and covered the spots on his head where ears would be located and winced with discomfort. "Ralts, follow up with Confusion!"

Ralts landed this Confusion on Geodude. Geodude had no guard up and took the brunt of the psychic blast. He rolled across the ground before getting back up at the ready. "Geodude, Rock Throw one more time!"

Geodude readied a rock and let this one loose before Ralts could do anything about it. Noelle was caught slightly off guard with how quickly Geodude managed this after being knocked down by an attack and called out for Ralts to dodge the attack. The rock made full contact with Ralts, which sent him hurdling backwards towards Roark. "Geodude, Rock Throw one more time!"

Noelle looked at the ground where the sharp stones lay in front of his side of the field. "Ralts, teleport in front of the sharp stones!"

Ralts appeared in front of the sharp stones as the rock Geodude threw sailed past Roark and into the wall behind him. "Now Ralts, launch those stones at Geodude!"

Ralts levitated the sharp stones with his psychic energy and launched them all rapidly at Geodude. Geodude covered his eyes during the attack, and as he felt the stones starting to lighten, he opened his eyes and moved his hand away from them. Ralts was charging and approaching rapidly towards him. "Ralts, hit him with a direct Confusion!"

"RAAAALLLLLTTTTSSSS!" Ralts cried out as he connected a powerful blast of psychic energy with Geodude.

Geodude rolled onto the ground, as and he tried to lift himself back up, was unable to do so and fell back flat onto the ground. Ariya and Omar cheered from the sidelines for their friend. "Well, looks like my Geodude cannot fight any longer. That was a good strategy, Noelle" Roark said as Geodude was returned to his pokéball. "Now let's see if you can handle this challenge!"

Roark threw a second pokéball onto the field, and this time an onix emerged form the ball. He let out a loud groan and looked down at Ralts, who stood so small compared to Onix, it was almost humorous. "I will withdraw my Ralts and put Snorunt into the fight!"

Snorunt emerged with a confident nod of her head and turned to face her enormous opponent. "Snorunt, let's start this out with Ice Beam!"

"This should be super effective against Onix if it makes contact," Omar said to Ariya while watching from afar.

"Onix, dodge that attack!" Roark yelled out to his pokémon.

With an almost immeasurable feat of speed, Onix curled around the beam of ice, successfully dodging it. "Now Onix, use Rock Throw!"

Onix dragged his tail across the ground and launched a volley of rocks out of the ground towards Snorunt. "Snorunt, use Icy Wind to slow down and freeze the rocks!" Noelle commanded.

Snorunt whipped up a blast of ice-cold wind from behind her, slowing down the volley of rocks. Some of them froze solid and fell out of the sky, however, a good number of them broke through and made contact with Snorunt. "Ruuunt!" she groaned as she was rolled over backwards.

"Onix, get up close and use Rock Throw so she can't stop them!" Roark called out.

Onix began to snake towards Snorunt until he was right up close to her. As he pulled his tail back to shower her with rocks from the ground, Snorunt heard Noelle call from behind her, "Snorunt, use Ice Beam on his head!"

Snorunt looked up at the massive pokémon and launched Ice Beam right for him. As the beam connected with Onix, the rocks were already sailing through the air towards Snorunt. As they one-by-one hit Snorunt, she slowly buckled until she fell flat to the ground. Onix shook his head off and returned to where Roark was standing. "Great job buddy!" Roark told his enormous companion.

Noelle recalled Snorunt to her pokéball, told her it was a job well done and looked to Ralts. "You ready Ralts? I have a plan."

"Ralts!" he responded as he made his way onto the battlefield.

"Alright," thought Noelle, "If this worked once, it should work again, and this time, I have super effective damage on my side."

"Onix, charge Ralts!" shouted Roark.

As Onix approached Ralts at an alarming speed, Noelle called out to his partner, "Ralts, use the icy rocks on him!"

Ralts nodded and psychically picked up the rocks that Snorunt had frozen from Onix's Rock Throw. He launched them full speed at the rushing pokémon, and they all seemed to land perfectly. Upon doing this, Onix skidded to a stop, and attempted to lift his head up. While doing so, it fell back down, and he was unable to continue. "No! Onix!" Roark shouted as he returned him to his pokéball. "You are doing well Noelle. However, how will you fare against my strongest pokémon?"

Roark tossed out his final pokéball, and out came a cranidos, pawing at the ground, prepping to charge. "Alright Ralts," said Noelle, "we just have to finish off this pokémon and we will have won our first gym badge."

Ralts nodded as Noelle looked down to Phantump who was clinging to his pants next to his ankles. His plan seemed to be working and we would not have to send Phantump out in this battle after all.

"Cranidos, use Headbutt!" Roark called out to start the final matchup.

Cranidos charged Ralts with an unmatched speed. "Ralts, dodge him!" Noelle commanded.

Ralts quickly pulled to the side, however, Cranidos adjusted his route and clipped Ralts with one of the spikes sticking out of his head. Ralts spun out of the way before falling on his rear end. He stood back up with a burst of determination. "I'm not sure if Ralts can pull this off, but I am going to give it a try," Noelle thought. "Ralts!" he yelled, "Wait for Cranidos to charge you and get ready to attack!"

Ralts nodded and prepared himself. Cranidos had come full circle and was swinging back around to charge Ralts. As he closed in on Ralts, Noelle finally called, "Ralts, use Disarming Voice!"

Ralts let out the same loud cry as before, and as the noise connected with Cranidos' ears, he lost his balance and tripped up his footwork. He tumbled a little and slammed into Ralts full speed, but barely connected the attack with his dome. The commotion kicked up a dust cloud surrounding the pokémon. "Ralts!" "Cranidos!" both the trainers yelled simultaneously.

Ariya and Omar were now standing up trying to see the outcome as the dust cleared. When the pokémon were finally visible again, Cranidos was standing – panting and badly hurt- but standing. Ralts was lying on the ground next to him, unconscious. "Looks like I won that collision," said Roark quietly in the room that had now fallen silent.

Noelle returned Ralts to his special pokéball. He looked down at Phantump, who was looking up at him worriedly. "Alright buddy." Noelle leaned down close to Phantump. "I am going to need you to give this a shot, okay? If you know any moves, use them. I don't think Cranidos can take much more."

Phantump began to quiver slightly. "Look, don't be scared. Just get out there and try your best. I know you will do great!" Noelle said confidently.

Phantump slowly floated out onto the battlefield, the whole while watching his trainer get further and further away. He finally turned around to look at his opponent on the battlefield. Cranidos was panting, and very beat up. Phantump quivered as Cranidos pawed at the ground. "Cranidos, this should be easy. Finish this with one last Headbutt! Put all your speed into this, and let's finish this battle!"

Cranidos charged up before taking off at even higher speeds than before. Phantump saw him take off running, and in turn, turned around and started running towards Noelle. "Phantump, no! You have to stay on the battlefield!"

"Tuuuump!" he responded as he neared Noelle.

Cranidos was tearing up the ground under him as he ran full speed ahead. He was slowly gaining on Phantump, who was nearing the edge of the battlefield by Noelle. Phantump approached Noelle, as Cranidos was only about 10 feet behind him and would catch up in a couple seconds. Noelle dove out of the way as Cranidos smashed into Phantump.

As Noelle got back to his feet, he turned quickly to the collision. He stared intently as the dust settled ever so slowly to reveal the crash site.


	7. Chapter 7 - A Flowery Friend

Chapter 7:

A Flowery Friend

As the dust cleared, the sight that was before Noelle was intense. Lying on the ground about a foot from the wall was a small stump, completely devoid of any movement. Crushed into the concrete wall behind the stump was Cranidos, flipped over onto his back, suspended upside down, completely unconscious. As Noelle stared, trying to decipher exactly what he was witnessing, the small lifeless stump sprouted a body, arms, and a small black tip on top. Eyes appeared and blinked a couple times before the stump levitated up and looked at Noelle. "Tump?" Phantump said quizzically.

Noelle stared back before exclaiming, "You did it Phantump! We won!"

At the split second before Cranidos reached Phantump next to the wall, Phantump retracted his ghostly form into the stump and the solid part of his being hit the ground. Cranidos, running too fast to change course, tripped over Phantump, did a slight somersault before hitting the wall directly with his back, the collision causing him to be stuck and suspended in the concrete itself.

Noelle ran towards Phantump as he floated up to Noelle's chest. He pulled him in close and gave him a big hug while petting him. Phantump was overjoyed and cheering at his accidental victory. Roark approached the two while returning his Cranidos to its pokéball. "Congratulations Noelle," he said. "You won the Coal Badge from me."

Roark held the badge out to Noelle who took it from him with a grin. "Thank you, Roark. That was a great battle!"

Roark nodded his head while Noelle examined the badge. "Do you have a badge case?"

"No, I don't," Noelle responded while rubbing his head embarrassed.

"That's okay, I have some back at my place if you guys want to follow me there. My dad made them from steel up in Canalave City."

Ariya and Omar ran down by Noelle and Roark and congratulated him on his victory. Omar put his arm around Noelle's shoulders and rubbed his hair like a small child. Noelle grinned as the three followed Roark out of the gym.

Once at Roark's house, he led them inside to a wooden case with glass doors. Upon opening the case, there were many items inside. Badge cases, actual badges, underground mining tools, shards, and stones. Roark grabbed the nearest badge case and offered it to Noelle.

"Here you are. Consider it a present for winning your first gym battle on your first try. Now, I need to get to the pokémon center and heal up my team, I'm sure Ralts and Snorunt could use a could freshening up too!" Roark said with a laugh.

The four of them departed for the pokémon center, the whole way Roark was explaining to them the mining operations that were taking place south of the city. Once at the pokémon center, Noelle and Roark handed Nurse Joy their pokémon, and walked over to the café. They order teas and coffees and continued to chat while Nurse Joy healed their pokémon to full health. Per usual, Ralts came charging at Noelle from behind the counter and climbed up his back handful by handful of sweatshirt before coming to rest on his shoulder. "Hey buddy," Noelle said to him, giving him a pat on the head.

Once they had retrieved all their pokémon from Nurse Joy, they exited the pokémon center. "Well, you guys still have a lot of daylight," Roark said to them. "You should get going to Eterna City. Gardenia should be your next gym challenge."

Noelle thanked Roark for all the help and they were on their way out of Oreburgh City. "Alright, if we leave through the north exit, that will take us up straight to Eterna City," Omar told the others.

Noelle and Ariya nodded and they were on their way back to Noelle's home city. After exiting Oreburgh City, they came across a split in the road. To the east sat an enormous mountain, and to the north they could see some of Eterna City's buildings on the horizon. "If we go east, that would take us to Hearthome City. North will continue us to Eterna. I don't think we need to go to Hearthome yet, so we should just keep going," explained Omar.

As they continued north, they moved out of the mountainous terrain that surrounded Oreburgh City to grassier, field-like terrain. Once past the rocky terrain completely, they approached a huge long stretch of bridge that led right to Eterna City. "I've been here before. This is Cycling Road. This was one of the reasons I had gotten a bike, but honestly, I never even left Eterna City. They don't really like when people walk it, but we do not really have a choice as of right now," Noelle told his friends.

They began the trek up the concrete bridge and got a lot of nasty looks from the people who were riding their bikes up and down the construct. As they continued, they attempted to ignore the bikers who were glaring at them from left and right, and eventually reached the end of the bridge. The trek took quite some time from Oreburgh to Eterna, and the sun was beginning to set. Omar made note of this to his friends. "My house is here, we can stay there for the night," Noelle responded.

As they entered Eterna City, there were quite a few people walking the streets that greeted Noelle as he returned. "Well, well, well, Mr. Popular," teased Omar.

Noelle shushed him as they made their way to his house for the night. As they arrived at Noelle's house, the sun had just gone down and it was dark out. He unlocked the front door, and turned the lights on, illuminating his dark and empty residence. "Well, this is my place," said Noelle with a sigh.

"It's decorated beautifully Noelle. Did your mom pick out all of the décor?" Ariya asked him.

"Yes, she did. She did do a pretty good job with the house."

"Does she not live here? Or is she just not home?" Ariya questioned.

"Actually, she passed away last week. She had been sick for a while. That's why I left on my journey, I wasn't taking care of her anymore," Noelle answered as he looked down at the floorboards.

"Oh… I'm sorry Noelle. I didn't mean to push."

"It's okay. I think it was coming for a while, I just hadn't prepared for it."

"I know the feeling Noelle," Omar interrupted. "But hey, who's hungry?" he said with a spirited tone to change the mood.

Noelle and Ariya didn't question his statement as they agreed they could go for some dinner.

"There are vegetables in the back garden we could use to make dinner if you want so we don't have to eat any of our travelling food we packed," Noelle said.

"You two rest your pretty little heads," Omar told them. "I am going to take care of dinner. Noelle you had a long hard battle- and consider it my congratulations for catching your first pokémon Ariya."

Noelle and Ariya laughed as Omar put on a floral apron that was hanging up in Noelle's kitchen. He led Ariya to his childhood bedroom. "Awww, look at the cute munchlax slippers!" Ariya teased Noelle.

"Oh quiet, they are super comfortable!" he responded. "But yes, this is my room in all its glory."

She looked through his stuff as Noelle looked out the window to see Omar in the back garden harvesting ripe vegetables. He smiled as he saw the garden was not neglected in the couple of days he had been absent. Gardenia had been tending to the garden, and hopefully bringing the vegetables into town to feed some people. He turned back around to see Ariya holding his journal he had used when he was a couple of years younger. His eyes widened as she held it up looking at him. "You're lucky I'm not as nosy as you or I could've gotten a bunch of juicy details out of here," she said while laughing and throwing the journal towards him.

He shook his head at her and the two exited his room and descended the stairs. Phantump was lying on the couch taking a nap with Ralts sitting next to him when they came downstairs. Omar had just walked back in with a basket full of fresh vegetables from the garden. As he began to prep their dinner, Ariya and Noelle decided that Phantump had the right idea and situated themselves in the living room as they both dozed off waiting for dinner.

Noelle felt a soft but strong hand on his upper arm. He slowly opened his eyes to see Omar squatted down on the floor eye level with him on the couch. "Hey Noelle," he said softly. "Dinner is ready if you want to get up." He gave him one final rub on his arm before moving over and waking up Ariya.

They both shook the sleep out of their systems and approached the dinner table. As they seated themselves, Omar served both of them plates full of the dish he had created from the vegetables in the garden. They both thanked him as they happily ate the delicious meal that Omar had concocted for them. Omar then set down some bowls of food for the pokémon who happily joined in on the meal. There was barely any conversation as they ate, as they had totally forgotten how hungry they were. As they finished, Ariya cleared the table since Omar had made the food. Noelle noticed the door to his mother's room was ajar as he approached it. He walked in and saw Phantump sitting up on his mother's vacant bed.

He slowly closed the door behind him, leaving it slightly opened. He sat next to Phantump on the bed, who in turn floated over and sat in his lap. Noelle sat in the room staring at the space that was empty of its usual medication bottles, boxes of tissues, and glasses of water, both empty and full, that had riddled his mother's room for the past decade. Phantump looked up at Noelle with a sad expression on his face. Noelle pet him to reassure him he was okay. Noelle turned as he heard the door open. Omar was standing in the doorway looking at Noelle. "Hey, Ariya just went to shower, I was wondering where you were," he told him. "This was your mother's room wasn't it."

What normally would've been an obvious deduction, Noelle realized wasn't the case. The room was void of personal touches his mother had in the room that would have identified it with her. "Yes, it was. I took care of her in this room since I was a kid."

Omar could tell by the shake in Noelle's voice that this was the location his mother had passed on. "I lost my mom when I was a young boy," he said sitting down next to Noelle on the bed. "Valeo and I never knew our dad. It was just us and our mom after Valeo was born. I was only about 10 when she has passed. Valeo is only a year younger than me, but I could tell it was much harder for him to process the situation that it was for me."

"What did you guys do then?"

"Well, living in the big city without our mother, I had to raise Valeo as both a father and a big brother. The relationship that most siblings can enjoy was lost to us. I had to discipline him as well as spend time with him like a sibling. It definitely strained our relationship that could've been very strong."

"I had no idea… that explains the interaction Ariya and I first saw when me met you."

"Yeah. He's a good kid. But there is just always that rift between us that I hope we can get over eventually." Omar scooted a little closer and put his hand on Phantump's head and began petting him. "You are lucky to have Noelle to take care of you Phantump," Omar said as he looked up at Noelle.

Noelle returned the gaze and felt his heart rate pick up. This was noticeable to Phantump as well as he looked up at his trainer, who was quite red in the face at this point, however, the lights were still off in the room, so it probably wasn't noticeable. Suddenly, the shower above the room turned on which snapped Noelle back to reality. He broke his gaze with Omar and looked down at his cute little partner. "I'm lucky to have found him. He has made this a lot easier. Plus, he loves cuddling with me at night and that's always comforting."

Omar stared at Noelle with the obvious response to what had just been said on his tongue, however he stood up off the bed and responded to Noelle, "I'm getting pretty tired. Would it be all right if I slept on the couch tonight?"

Noelle was not exactly comfortable with anybody sleeping in his mother's room, so he led Omar out to the living room and supplied him with everything he would need for the night. After this, they said their goodnights and Noelle ascended the stairs to his bedroom. He sat on the edge of his bed replaying what had transpired downstairs. Ariya, disrupting his thinking, came into his room with a towel wrapped at her chest. "Hey Noelle, where would you like me to sleep tonight?" she asked him.

He got up and led her to Ralts' room, which did have an extra bed in it for a human. "You can stay in here for tonight if you want to. Otherwise you can take my room and I'll stay in here."

"No, this is perfect Noelle. Thank you."

Noelle returned to his room and undressed. He crawled into his bed and realized just how much he had missed it. As usual, Phantump found his way under one of Noelle's arms and fell asleep quickly. Ralts had decided to sleep in his old bed next to Ariya, and Omar was downstairs on the couch playing with his pokéball that held Growlithe.

In the middle of the night, a slight hum out the back door to the garden woke Omar suddenly. The hum was a quiet and almost calming lull. He turned his head to the door to see a faint glow through the glass of the back door. He got up and put his shirt back on, before walking to the door to get a closer look. Once there, he peered through the window and saw the glow was coming directly from the garden. He could not make out exactly what it was, so he slowly opened the door, trying not to wake his friends. Once outside he approached the garden slowly.

Dancing around in between the green of the garden was a small flabébé. The flabébé looked up at him and smiled, accompanied by a friendly noise. "Hey little one, what are you doing out here?"

"Be! Be!" it responded with a laugh.

Omar stood at the edge of the garden watching the flowery pokémon dance around and enjoy itself in the garden. He began to play with the pokémon and laugh along with it. It was one of the cutest things he had seen in his entire life. He continued to play with the flabébé as he lost track of time.

Noelle awoke to the rising sun peering in through his blinds. He had gotten up and opened them to see Omar standing out by the garden. "What is he doing? How long has he been out there?" Noelle thought.

As he stood watching his friend squatted down out by his garden, suddenly Omar stood up and turned towards the house. He was holding something in his outstretched hands. Noelle was trying to make out what Omar was holding when Omar looked up at the window. Noelle went flush as he realized he was only in his underwear. He ducked out of the window and quickly put his clothes on as he heard Omar open the back door. He opened his door after finishing getting dressed and went downstairs, Phantump following behind. "Noelle!" Omar called out.

Noelle met him in the living room, where he could now see what he was holding. He was holding the flabébé that he was playing with in the garden. "This is my new friend, Flabébé." Noelle looked at him puzzled. "He was hanging out in your garden last night, and I was out playing with him. After we were playing together for awhile I was talking to her and asked her if she wanted to join us. I told her all about you and Ariya and your partners."

Noelle looked down at the small pokémon clutching the flower Omar held in his hand. "Nice to meet you Flabébé, I'm Noelle. You are going to have lots of fun with us on our adventure!"

Flabébé let out a joyful cry and did a jump in Omar's hand. "Well Noelle," said Omar, "You think you are ready to take on Gardenia?"

N oelle looked at him with a confident smile. "I'm ready!"


	8. Chapter 8 - Old Friends Clash

Chapter 8:

Old Friends Clash

Noelle and Omar sat in the living room waiting for Ariya to wake up and get ready for the day. As they sat making small talk, Noelle heard the lock on the front door start to turn. He turned around quickly to see who was about to enter the house, and in walked Gardenia. She met his gaze and jumped a little from fright.

"Oh! Noelle! I didn't know you were home," Gardenia said with a huge smile on her face. "I was just coming to tend to the garden."

In her arms were an array of garden tools and a basket to take any produce back to town with her that she had collected. "Hey Gardenia, I just got back last night. We wanted to take a night of rest before -" Noelle stopped as he pulled out his badge case and showed her his Coal Badge, "I challenge you to a battle for your badge!"

Gardenia responded with a loud laugh. She squinted her eyes and peered at him past his badge case. "I accept your challenge, but first let me get to the garden!"

Gardenia exited out the back door of the house to accomplish what she had come to do. Ariya eventually came downstairs, dressed, made-up, and her hair straightened. "Good morning boys," she said to the two who were sitting up waiting in the living room. "Ready to get going today?"

The boys nodded their head in unison. Noelle shouted out the back door to Gardenia that they were going to head down to Eterna City and they would see her when she gets back. On the way to Eterna, the trio heard a thrashing in a small lake nearby to the trail they were on, and they went to investigate the commotion.

In the lake, they saw a swarm of magikarp, being chased by one visibly upset feebas. "I've never seen a feebas in this lake before, I don't think he belongs here," Noelle said to his companions.

"Well, I know a good way to take care of it!" yelled Omar as he reached in his bag. "Go Flabébé!"

Flabébé emerged from her pokéball in a dazzling light. "Flabébé, help those magikarp out and use Magical Leaf on the feebas!"

Flabébé nodded her head and let loose a flurry of razor-sharp leaves that were surrounded with a rainbow aura to hit the feebas. As the leaves connected, the feebas turned his attention to Flabébé and Omar. He turned and began to swim towards them. As he approached, Noelle saw Omar reach into his bag once again. He chucked a pokéball at Feebas, hitting his target. As Feebas was transported into the device, the ball floated on top of the water as it shook. Eventually, the ball clicked and Feebas was comfortably secured inside. Noelle had Phantump hover over the water and retrieve the ball for Omar.

Once in hand, Omar let Feebas out of the ball into the water he caught him in. "Hey, you're okay. Are you calmed down now?" Omar asked Feebas.

The fish nodded his head and gave Omar a little smile. "Alright then, I don't think you belong in this lake, so we are going to take you along with us, and you can explore a bunch of lakes and rivers and ponds!" Omar exclaimed, much to Feebas' excitement.

He withdrew Feebas into her pokéball, and the trio was back on route to Eterna City.

Once they had arrived, Noelle began taking them around town and showing them where everything was. Ralts had only come into town with Noelle a couple of times, so even he was ecstatic to be shown the city in-depth. As they approached the statue that stood tall over Eterna City, Ralts and Phantump began to climb it like a piece of playground equipment.

"Noelle," Ariya began, "Do you know anything about this statue?"

"Not really. My mom said there used to be a descriptor plate on the front that explained it, but she said it was in a language she couldn't read."

As Ariya opened her mouth to respond, they heard a voice from behind them. "This statue is built after the legendary pokémon of Sinnoh."

Noelle turned to see where the voice was coming from and saw a tall woman with long, flowing blonde hair, and a black outfit. "You… you're… Cynthia! I watch you all the time on TV defending your title! You're one of the greatest trainers of all time!"

Cynthia covered her mouth as she giggled. "Very sweet of you. I do enjoy battling, that's for sure. It gets harder and harder with each challenger, and I never know when the one is going to come that beats me."

"Didn't you lose your first battle ever about a year ago?" Omar interjected.

"Ah yes. To our young hero of Sinnoh. After he beat me, he let me keep my title. He said he was not interested in it and was going to head over to Hoenn to challenge the league there. He and I defended Sinnoh from the plot of Team Galactic about a year ago. This statue reminds me of that adventure he and I had together atop Mt. Coronet." Cynthia turned her gaze to the huge mountain looming over the Sinnoh region. "I wonder how he's doing in Hoenn," she pondered. She turned back to the statue. "This statue is a tribute to the pokémon of time and space that reside here in the Sinnoh region. It has pieces from both combined to create one pokémon that keeps the peace here in Sinnoh."

Noelle, Omar and Ariya gazed up at the statue, amazed they had no idea of this tale Cynthia told. "Wow… that all is happening, right here in Sinnoh. Amazing," Omar said.

Ralts pointed over Cynthia's head and shouted. The group turned to face what caught his attention to see Gardenia approaching the statue. "Hey, Cynthia!" she yelled. "I didn't know you were visiting today!"

"Togekiss and I were taking a little fly and I figured I would just make a stop and see how things are going with my coolest gym leader," she said while laughing.

Gardenia returned the laugh and responded, "I mean, I AM pretty cool! Noelle was going to challenge the gym if you wanted to hang around and watch the battle. Who knows, maybe you will have to fight him one day," Gardenia said nudging Noelle with her elbow.

"I would like that," Cynthia responded.

"Perfect! Then let's head to the gym. I had my students prepare the gym for our battle. I hope you're ready Noelle. Do I have a surprise for you!"

"I am readier than I will ever be," Noelle responded as they began to make their way to the gym.

Once inside the gym, Noelle and Gardenia took their respective spots on the battlefield. Omar, Ariya, and Cynthia took seats up in the spectator seats and prepared to watch their friend battle for his second gym badge. "Alright Noelle, this will be a 3-on-3 gym battle. The first person to have 3 pokémon be unable to battle will be the loser!" Gardenia shouted across the field. "First up, I'll use Shroomish!"

Gardenia's shroomish emerged from his pokéball and stood ready to battle. "Hm, a pure grass type huh?" Noelle thought. "Alright Snorunt would be perfect for this!" "I will use Snorunt!"

Noelle threw his pokéball and Snorunt emerged onto the field looking at Shroomish fiercely.

"Shroomish, start this off with Poison Powder!" Gardenia yelled.

Shroomish shook his body and purple spores floated over to where Snorunt was standing. "Snorunt! Use Ice Beam on the ground below you to raise yourself out of the way!"

Snorunt shot a beam of ice straight down where she was standing, as it stacked on top of itself, slowly pushing her up in the air on an ice tower about 10 feet up. Snorunt was safe from the poison spores, but they littered the ground below. "Shroomish! Headbutt on the base of the tower!" Gardenia yelled.

Shroomish bashed the top of his head into the tower of ice Snorunt had created. As he hit the tower, Snorunt lost her footing atop the tower and fell into the poison spores below. As she tried to shake off the spores, Shroomish was recovering from the hard hit to the ice tower. "Snorunt, use Ice Beam on Shroomish!" Noelle shouted.

Snorunt, being obviously affected by the spores, took the command, and hit Shroomish with a direct ray of ice. Shroomish was launched backwards away from the tower. "Shroomish, use Headbutt on Snorunt!"

As Shroomish rushed Snorunt, Snorunt looked to Noelle for command. "Snorunt, use Ice Beam on the ground in front of you!"

Snorunt slicked the ground in front of him with ice, turning remaining spores into little snowflakes. As Shroomish hit the ice, he slid away from Snorunt and towards the ice tower. "Now Snorunt, finish him off with another Ice Beam!"

"Shroomish, dodge that attack! Gardenia yelled.

Shroomish tried to scurry out of the way but could not get his bearings from the ice underneath. The second ice beam connected with Shroomish and he was knocked unconscious. "Yes! We did it Snorunt!" Noelle yelled.

"That was some good strategy Noelle. Guess you learned a lot from watching all those battles on TV. And it doesn't help my case that you've seen me battle so many times," Gardenia said as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Well, up next is Roselia!"

Gardenia tossed Roselia onto the field. Noelle figured he still had the type advantage. "I will need to save Snorunt for Turtwig," Noelle thought. "Alright, I will use Ralts!" Noelle shouted.

Ralts leapt from Noelle's shoulder and onto the battlefield. "I have the type advantage against Roselia who is a poison-type as well," Noelle thought.

"Alright Roselia, use Magical Leaf!" Gardenia shouted.

An array of leaves flew towards Ralts. Noelle was getting very adept with Ralts and the best way to use him in battle. "Ralts, teleport away from the attack!"

Ralts teleported away from the leaves and appeared elsewhere on the field. "Use Confusion on Roselia, Ralts!" Noelle yelled to him.

As Ralts began to launch his attack on Roselia, he was struck in the back by a barrage of leaves.

The Magical Leaf had changed course and followed him to where he had teleported. Ralts stood up and glared at Roselia after recovering from the attack. "Ralts, try Confusion again!"

Ralts launched a blast of psychic energy at Roselia. "Roselia, move out of the way!"

Roselia gracefully dodged the attack that would have left her badly damaged. "Now Roselia, use Magical Leaf!"

A barrage of glowing leaves flew towards Ralts from Roselia's hand-petals. "Ralts, stay where you are and take control of that attack!" Noelle commanded.

As the leaves approached Ralts, he closed his eyes and let out a wave of psychic energy. The leaves stopped in place and floated where they had stopped. Gardenia and Roselia stared at them when suddenly all the leaves at once turned and raced towards Roselia tenfold the speed they were moving towards Ralts. Cynthia leaned forward from her seat, as this psychic power and control even caught her attention. "Ralts, you know what to do with this!" Noelle yelled.

"Roselia! Dodge- "

As Gardenia tried to finish her command, the leaves connected with Roselia hard, sending her to the ground. As she skidded across the ground, she suddenly halted and looked up into the eyes of Ralts, who had teleported behind her during the attack. "Ralts, Confusion!"

Ralts pounded Roselia with a direct psychic blast of energy being only a couple inches away from her. The attack left her completely unable to continue. "Great job Ralts!" Noelle yelled to his partner who was quite a distance away from him.

"Alright," Noelle thought, "So Gardenia only has Turtwig left to put into the battle. I think I will be able to keep Phantump out of this battle."

"I hope you are ready for this Noelle," Gardenia shouted to him. "I told you I had a surprise for you!"

As Gardenia let her pokéball out of her hand, out emerged a pokémon that Noelle was shocked to see. Standing in the middle of the field was a strong and battle-ready Grotle.

"Your Turtwig evolved!" Noelle shouted.

"Yes, he did. And I think you will have some trouble with this fight!"

Noelle looked down at his pokéball that held Snorunt. "Well, I still have the type advantage either way!"

Noelle sent Snorunt onto the field. She looked at Grotle, prepared to fight to the end. "Grotle! Razor Leaf!"

As leaves rained out of Grotle's back, Snorunt looked to Noelle for direction. "Snorunt, freeze them in the air!"

Snorunt let loose an Icy Wind attack, as the leaves began to slow down. However, the attack was much stronger than Noelle anticipated and some of them got through to Snorunt, hitting him for direct damage. Noelle winced at the damage his Snorunt had just endured. He had taken a couple of hits now. "Snorunt! Use Headbutt!"

Snorunt pointed his peaked head towards Grotle and began rushing. "Grotle, meet him with Body Slam!" Gardenia responded.

As the two approached each other, picking up speed, suddenly, Snorunt collapsed to the ground and skidded towards Grotle, who had stopped in his tracks. "You seemed to underestimate my pokémon's ability to poison you Noelle!" Gardenia teased.

Snorunt was unable to continue the fight and Noelle withdrew him. This was not looking good, he knew that if he had to send Phantump in against a barely damaged pokémon, he would lose for sure. He looked down at Ralts who was standing at the ready and nodded for his partner to join the battle. Ralts and Grotle looked at each other, fired up. They had met a few times but both felt the need to excel over the other being their respective trainer's first partner pokémon.

"Grotle, Body Slam Ralts!" Gardenia commanded.

Grotle began to charge Ralts. Noelle looked at the battlefield and thought of a way to turn the tide of this battle. There was an enormous tower of ice, there were frozen leaves on the ground, and there was a patch of ice near the ice tower that was starting to melt. He remembered his strategy that helped him beat Roark. "Ralts! Use those leaves next to you!"

Ralts nodded and psychically picked up the icy leaves that littered the ground around him. He launched them at Grotle, and the impact from the leaves slowed him down enough for Ralts to jump out of the way and dodge the body slam. "Grotle, change course!" Gardenia yelled.

Grotle slowly made a 180 degree turn in a large arc and rushed towards Ralts, who was now standing between him and Gardenia. "Ralts, teleport onto the ice patch!" Noelle called.

Ralts did as told, and Grotle adjusted course to meet him once again. "Ralts, wait for it!" Noelle yelled.

Grotle picked up speed as he charged the little pokémon. Omar and Ariya watched on and braced for the impact the heavy hit would have on Ralts, who had already sustained a direct attack from Roselia. Right as Grotle approached Ralts, he vanished. Grotle tried to slow down and adjust, but the ice made him slide straight ahead. He collided with the ice tower, and the immense power and size of the pokémon made the tower crumble down. Ralts, who had not teleported far enough away, was slowly buried under the falling ice along with Grotle.

Noelle watched the scene with horror in his eyes. "No! Ralts!"


End file.
